1846 - Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints began their exodus to the west from Illinois.

1863 - In New York City, two of the world’s most famous midgets, General Tom Thumb and Lavinia Warren were married.

1863 - The fire extinguisher was patented by Alanson Crane.

1870 - The city of Anaheim was incorporated for the first time.

1870 - The YWCA was founded in New York City.

1879 - The electric arc light was used for the first time.

1897 - "The New York Times" began printing "All the news that's fit to print" on their front page.

1920 - Major league baseball representatives outlawed pitches that involve tampering with the ball.

1923 - Ink paste was manufactured for the first time by the Standard Ink Company.

1925 - The first waterless gas storage tank was placed in service in Michigan City, IN.

1933 - The singing telegram was introduced by the Postal Telegraph Company of New York City.

1933 - Primo Carnera knocked out Ernie Schaaf in round 13 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Schaaf died as a result of the knockout punch.

1934 - The first imperforated, ungummed sheets of postage stamps were issued by the U.S. Postal Service in New York City.

1935 - The Pennsylvania Railroad began passenger service with its electric locomotive. The engine was 79-1/2 feet long and weighed 230 tons.

1942 - The Normandie, the former French liner, capsized in New York Harbor. The day before the ship had caught fire while it was being fitted for the U.S. Navy.

1949 - "Death of a Salesman" opened at the Morocco Theatre in New York City.

1962 - The Soviet Union exchanged capture American U2 pilot Francis Gary Powers for the Soviet spy Rudolph Ivanovich Abel being held by the U.S.

1967 - The 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified. The amendment required the appointment of a vice-president when that office became vacant and instituted new measures in the event of presidential disability.

1997 - The U.S. Army suspended its top-ranking enlisted soldier, Army Sgt. Major Gene McKinney following allegations of sexual misconduct. McKinney was convicted of obstruction of justice and acquitted of 18 counts alleging sexual harassment of six military women.

1998 - A man became the first to be convicted of committing a hate crime in cyberspace. The college dropout had e-mailed threats to Asian students.

1998 - Voters in Maine repealed a 1997 gay rights law. Maine was the first state to abandone such legislation.

1999 - Avalanches killed at least 10 people when they roared down the French Alps 30 miles from Geneva.

2005 - North Korea publicly announced for the first time that it had nuclear arms. The country also rejected attempts to restart disarmament talks in the near future saying that it needed the weapons as protection against an increasingly hostile United States.

1752 - The Pennsylvania Hospital opened as the very first hospital in America.

1808 - Judge Jesse Fell experimented by burning anthracite coal to keep his house warm. He successfully showed how clean the coal burned and how cheaply it could be used as a heating fuel.

1812 - The term "gerrymandering" had its beginning when the governor of Massachusetts, Elbridge Gerry, signed a redistricting law that favored his party.

1858 - A French girl, Bernadette Soubirous, claimed to have seen a vision of the Virgin Mary near Lourdes.

1878 - The first U.S. bicycle club, Boston Bicycle Club, was formed.

1929 - The Lateran Treaty was signed. Italy now recognized the independence and sovereignty of Vatican City.

1936 - Pumping began the process to build San Francisco's Treasure Island.

1937 - General Motors agreed to recognize the United Automobile Workers Union, which ended the current sit-down strike against them.

1940 - NBC radio presented "The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street" for the first time.

1943 - General Dwight David Eisenhower was selected to command the allied armies in Europe. (Today in World War II History)

1945 - During World War II, the Yalta Agreement was signed by U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Josef Stalin. (Today in World War II History)

1957 - The NHL Players Association was formed in New York City.

1958 - Ruth Carol Taylor was the first black woman to become a stewardess by making her initial flight.

1960 - Jack Paar walked off while live on the air on the "Tonight Show" with four minutes left. He did this in response to censors cutting out a joke from the show the night before.

1968 - The new 20,000 seat Madison Square Garden officially opened in New York. This was the fourth Garden.

1972 - McGraw-Hill Publishing Co. and Life magazine canceled plans to publish an autobiography of Howard Hughes. The work turned out to be fake.

1975 - Margaret Thatcher became the first woman to head a major party in Britain when she was elected leader of the Conservative Party.

1979 - Nine days after the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returned to Iran (after 15 years in exile) power was seized by his followers.

1982 - ABC-TV’s presentation of "The Winds of War" concluded. The 18-hour miniseries cost $40 million to produce and was the most-watched television program in history at the time.

1982 - France nationalized five groups of major industries and 39 banks.

1984 - The tenth Space Shuttle mission returned to Earth safely.

1989 - Rev. Barbara C. Harris became the first woman to be consecrated as a bishop in the Episcopal Church.

1990 - Nelson Mandela was freed after 27 years in captivity.

1990 - In Tokyo, Japan, James "Buster" Douglas knocked out Mike Tyson in the tenth round to win the heavyweight championship.

1993 - Janet Reno was appointed to the position of attorney general by U.S. President Clinton. She was the first female to hold the position.

2000 - The space shuttle Endeavor took off. The mission was to gather information for the most detailed map of the earth ever made.

2000 - Great Britain suspended self-rule in Northern Ireland after the Irish Republican Army (IRA) failed to begin decommissioning (disarming) by a February deadline.

2002 - The six stars on NBC's "Friends" signed a deal for $24 million each for the ninth and final season of the series.

2006 - In Texas, U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot and wounded a companion during a quail hunt.

2009 - John Dingell of Michigan became the longest serving member of the U.S. House of Representatives. He had more than 53 years of service.

1971 - South Vietnamese troops invaded Laos. They were backed by U.S. air and artillery support.

1984 - Konstantin Chernenko was chosen to be general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party's Central Committee, succeeding the late Yuri Andropov.

1985 - The Dow Jones industrial average closed at a record high of 1297.92 after it topped the 1300 mark earlier in the trading session.

1990 - In Ottawa, the United States and its European allies forged an agreement with the Soviet Union and East Germany on a two-stage formula to reunite Germany.

1991 - Hundreds of Iraqis were killed by two laser-guided bombs that destroyed an underground facility in Baghdad. U.S. officials identified the facility as a military installation, but Iraqi officials said it was a bomb shelter.

1997 - Astronauts on the space shuttle Discovery brought the Hubble Space Telescope aboard for a tune up. The tune up allowed the telescope to see further into the universe.

1997 - The Dow Jones industrial average passed the 7,000 mark for the first time. The day ended at 7,022.44.

1999 - A bomb exploded just outside a government-owned bank in southern Kosovo. Nine people were killed.

2000 - Charles M. Schulz's last original Sunday "Peanuts" comic strip appeared in newspapers. Schulz had died the day before.

2001 - El Savador was hit with an earthquake that measured 6.6 on the Richter Scale. At least 400 people were killed.

2002 - In Alexandria, VA, John Walker Lindh pled innocent to a 10-count federal indictment. He was charged with conspiring to kill Americans and aiding Osama bin Laden's terrorist network.

2002 - Former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani received an honorary knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II.

2008 - Roger Clemens denied having taken performance-enhancing drugs in testimony before Congress.